The present invention relates generally to paging systems and, in particular, to a voice-response two-way paging device.
In conventional paging systems, a paging device receives messages from a paging network RF transmitter. The paging device may also allow the paged party to acknowledge receipt of the page. For example, some two way pagers provide a mechanism for responding to a page by sending a code back to the network which activates a preprogrammed voice message. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,569. Although these systems are inexpensive, the voice message is limited to canned responses. An alternative acknowledgment system allows a voice response to be transmitted in real-time (either immediately or after a delay interval) to the calling party. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,379. However, these systems have seen limited commercial implementation because of problems with size, cost, bandwidth requirements, limited flexibility, and power consumption. Consequently, the market for two-way paging systems has been limited. Accordingly, there is a need to provide an ad-hoc voice response capability to a paging device while still maintaining the low-power, small size, and low cost characteristics of a conventional paging device.
Aspects of the present invention enable voice response to a page while maintaining the favorable characteristics of paging devices, i.e., low cost, small size, extended battery life, and simplicity of use.
In one aspect of the invention, a paging device includes a digital signal processor for compressing voice prior to transmission to the paging party. Using this aspect of the invention, a paging service provider can deliver a valuable new service to subscribers without having to adversely raise service prices or increase the size or cost of the pager.
In another aspect of the invention, the paging device receives, digitizes, compresses, and stores a response input by a user through, for example, activation of a push-to-talk button. The pager may thereafter transmit the response back to the calling party. In still other aspects of the invention, the digitizing and compression of the speech does not occur at the same time as the transmission of the speech. In this manner, it is possible to substantially reduce the peak power requirements of the paging device. Accordingly, the paging device only requires enough power to operate either the compression circuitry or the transmission circuitry, but not both. In other aspects of the invention, the amount of power required by the pager can be reduced by transmitting the voice at less than a real time.
In further aspects of the invention, the paging device can respond to E-mail originated pages via an E-mail packaged audio file transmitted back to the sender as a reply message. In still other aspect of the present invention, an improved user interface simplifies the recording and sending of ad-hoc responses. In one aspect, the pager includes a push-to-talk switch located on the side of the pager. In still other aspects of the invention, the push-to-talk switch includes an integrated record, play, review and/or stop switch. In still other aspects of the invention, the pager includes a mode key, a select key, one or more cursor keys, and/or telephone keypad. In still further aspects of the invention, the user interface includes a number of advantageously placed controls integrated into the paging device to facilitate response paging.
Alternate aspects of the invention include one or more of the devices, elements, and/or steps described herein in any combination or subcombination. It should be clear that the claims may recite or be amended to recite any of these combinations or subcombinations as an invention without limitation to the examples in the specification.